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Need You for Keeps
Dodging a sheriff's deputy in a small town isn't that easy—especially when he's as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as Jonah Baudouin. Animal rescuer Shay Michaels struggles in vain but it will not do. See what else the author, Marina Adair, has to offer

Book Description

Dark. Talented. Beautiful. Star of the rock band Inferno. Rumored owner of the hot New Orleans nightspot Club Hell. Born of the Blood, then broken by an evil beyond imagination.

HIS PAST IS A MYSTERY.

F.B.I. Special Agent Heather Wallace has been tracking a sadistic serial murderer known as the Cross Country Killer, and the trail has led her to New Orleans, Club Hell, and Dante. But the dangerously attractive musician not only resists her investigation, he claims to be "nightkind": in other words, a vampire. Digging into his past for answers reveals little. A juvenile record a mile long. No social security number. No known birth date. In and out of foster homes for most of his life before being taken in by a man named Lucien DeNoir, who appears to guard mysteries of his own.

HIS FUTURE IS CHAOS.

What Heather does know about Dante is that something links him to the killer -- and she's pretty sure that link makes him the CCK's next target. Heather must unravel the truth about this sensual, complicated, vulnerable young man -- who, she begins to believe, may indeed be a vampire -- in order to finally bring a killer to justice. But Dante's past holds a shocking, dangerous secret, and once it is revealed not even Heather will be able to protect him from his destiny....

Dark. Talented. Beautiful. Star of the rock band Inferno. Rumored owner of the hot New Orleans nightspot Club Hell. Born of the Blood, then broken by an evil beyond imagination.

HIS PAST IS A MYSTERY.

F.B.I. Special Agent Heather Wallace has been tracking a sadistic serial murderer known as the Cross Country Killer, and the trail has led her to New Orleans, Club Hell, and Dante. But the dangerously attractive musician not only resists her investigation, he claims to be "nightkind": in other words, a vampire. Digging into his past for answers reveals little. A juvenile record a mile long. No social security number. No known birth date. In and out of foster homes for most of his life before being taken in by a man named Lucien DeNoir, who appears to guard mysteries of his own.

HIS FUTURE IS CHAOS.

What Heather does know about Dante is that something links him to the killer -- and she's pretty sure that link makes him the CCK's next target. Heather must unravel the truth about this sensual, complicated, vulnerable young man -- who, she begins to believe, may indeed be a vampire -- in order to finally bring a killer to justice. But Dante's past holds a shocking, dangerous secret, and once it is revealed not even Heather will be able to protect him from his destiny....

Review

"A Rush of Wings is a dark, rich, sensual treat...Adrian Phoenix uses a perfect blend of suspense, romance, and lyrical prose to keep readers up until late, late at night turning the pages." -- Jenna Black, author of Secrets in the Shadows

I picked this up at the airport, and was immediately sucked in. So I bought it (despite the outrageous airport prices) and pretty much finished it off in the day I was traveling.

The first third of the novel is quite good: the crime, police involvement, the introduction of our two protagonists, as well as various other plotlines, are deftly woven in.

Both of the leads are about as cliched as they come; one gorgeous but determined police detective - check; one stunningly sexy, dark and mysterious vampire male - check. They are, at least initially, saved by the complexity of their backgrounds, characterizations and motives.

Unfortunately, about the second third of the book, things go downhill.

Heather Wallace is supposed to be an FBI profiler who is heading the investigation into an infamous serial killer - but damned if I can figure out why. I'm honestly not sure how a profiler is heading a case, instead of a detective; but the point is, she's not a field agent. So what she is doing hot-dogging it around solo is beyond me. It also becomes clear that she is far too young (and oh so coincidentally gorgeous) to be doing this job.

She makes several very stupid mistakes; her gun magazine is stolen and she doesn't even realize it; she walks into a fight with her purse; etc. There is also the fact that she hooks up with her main subject after two days; this despite knowing he is a possible pschopath.

As for Dante Prejean, he has a fascinating build-up. But he also makes some very stupid mistakes, at least one of which resulted in the person he was trying to save being killed. There's a definite angry teenager here rather than an actual adult, complete with massive amounts of melodrama and angst. It also cannot help but call into question even further Heather Wallace's judgement in getting involved with him.

The supporting characters are numerous and generally well fleshed out. I actually thought De Noir would have been far more attractive as the main male lead. His backround, history and involvement come out gradually, but are never fully explained. Also, fair warning to the reader; there are several strange terms he uses which require referral to the back of the book.

The last third of the book picks up again. But at this point, a lot of connection with the story has been lost. The author, I think, tried to take on too much for her first novel. But all the various subplots do come together and most questions are answered.

The characters do not impress you with their intelligence, and the book lacks in the realm of realism, originality and consistency. You can find reworkings of these themes in other novels and fanfiction all over the web. The melodrama is high, the romance is overdone, and the police procedural fizzles badly. But it's still very entertaining, fairly interesting, and has good charaterization. The writing is above average, and the author manages to hold onto the complex plot.

Bottom line; nice effort for a first time author. If you like Kim Harrison, Carrie Vaughn, Mary Janice Davidson, Tanya Huff and Karen Chance, then you'll want to check this out. It's a fairly solid addition to the genre, and holds promise for improvement.Read more ›

HIGH LEVEL: Disjointed story-telling, emotionally stunted, lacking in plausible romance. Had to force myself to finish because I felt a poor review wouldn't be fair otherwise. Writing style is highly descriptive and the mythos, while nothing really new or innovative was provocative. I have LOTS of issues with this book, but there were two MAJOR FLAWS that turned what could have been an intense, noir-ish crime driven urban fantasy into nothing short of TORTURE. Although, if you find Goth teenage boys attractive, you might like this more than I did...

FLAW # 1: It fails to grab you and the pacing is painfully disjointed. The story is told using a shifting perspective, which CAN BE a great tool to make sure the reader sees what is going on when the characters don't. However, in this case there were NINE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES- heroine, lead male, supporting good guys, ALL the bad guys... everyone! Basically this prevented any kind of momentum from building up. As soon as it got interesting, you were forced away from the action and into a different character's head clear across the damn country. If I had been reading this in paperback, I would have skipped ahead. Reading it on a Kindle meant I was trapped and forced to suffer through the author's poor sense of timing and fragmented story-telling. I didn't appreciate it

FLAW # 2: Romance was just plain baffling and occasionally made me queasy. Can anyone explain to me how an intelligent, successful, 31 year old, career FBI agent could POSSIBLY fall in love with a 23 year old, angst-ridden, sickly, Goth smash metal singer who behaves like a cranky teenager?????? I'm sorry, but this entire story centered on a character, Dante, who needed a MOTHER, not a lover. We were constantly reminded of his lack of nurturing childhood, that he never had a chance to be a kid. There were several different paternal and maternal figures sprinkled throughout the story- yet somehow our professional FBI agent FALLS IN LOVE WITH HIM, instead of trying to actually protect him???

The poor kid- and that's what he was, a CHILD- needed caring and understanding, someone to accept him and who he could trust. He needed a friend, a mentor- not a grown-up girlfriend. He was described as short (5ft 7) and thin, sickly pale pallor, heavily made up in black lipstick and eye makeup. He slunk around the place in latex and leather and black hoodies and sported silver rings everywhere- including the bloody collar he wore around his neck. Oooooo, that spells SEXY to me, boy! His face, and just his face, was supposedly breathtakingly gorgeous- yet completely covered in black goop. He behaved like a child, he looked like a child, he was treated like a child, but the author used incredibly poor judgment and decided to throw in a romance with a mature woman. BLECH, it was insulting.

It would have made much more sense and made for a better story if she had fallen for the paternal character, Lucien, and decided to stand beside him in nurturing and protecting Dante from himself and the world- and all the other supernatural enemies. It would have suited the female lead better to fall for a mature man- strong, powerful, and sexy. It would have softened Lucien's unnervingly cold character. It would have provided hope and stability for the desperately lost and interminably tormented Dante. AND it would have suited the story-line that touched upon Lucien's inadequacy to protect and "bind" (whatever the hell that was supposed to mean) Dante and keep him sane.

BOTTOM LINE: I feel like I wasted my time here and have no plans to read any more of this series. It was a shame because the characters were very well developed. I was totally disgusted by the romance (which was also in no way romantic) and every chapter made me actually swear out loud when it moved me away from the action I was just starting to get into.

For the past three years, FBI Special Agent Heather Wallace has been on the trail of a sociopath serial killer known as the Cross Country Killer (aka the CCK) , but when a body turns up outside a local club, Heather follows the CCK's path of destruction straight into New Orleans and Hell itself.

Club Hell is New Orleans's popular Goth club for vampire wannabes. Because after all, everyone knows that there are no such things as real vampires. Right? The only problem with that theory is that at Club Hell, it's not only the wannabes that hangout there. Dante Prejean rules supreme at Club Hell. He's also the lead singer of the popular Goth band, Inferno, and his hordes of fans adore and worship him.

In an attempt to find out more about Dante, Heather begins to investigate his past, but things just don't add up. Dante has a juvie record a mile long, yet no social security number, no known birth date, and no license. It's almost like he doesn't exit, or so it would seem. To top things off is the mysterious man who always seems to be in Dante's shadow -- Lucian DeNoir. What exactly is his connection to Dante? Lover? Close friend? Something...more?

I loved this first book of Adrian Phoenix's as-yet-unnamed series. I found that not only was the chemistry between Dante and Heather sensual, but also profound. Due to Dante's horrendous upbringing and his subsequent inability to trust others, he's taken aback when he looks into the depths of Heather's eyes to find she is sincere in both her claim to not only want to protect him but also to befriend him. Having experienced a tragic loss of her own, Heather finds she can relate to Dante's pain.

It's not often that I find a character with such a tortured past as Dante's and I found myself aghast with what Dante has had to endure, yet filled with compassion and awe for his ability to move forward at all.

Adrian Phoenix hits the jackpot in her first full-length novel. A Rush of Wings is a very dark, gothic, and original tale that will no doubt have readers of urban fantasy begging for more. Unfortunately for us, book two will not be released in 2009. Regardless, I, for one, cannot wait to dive back into Dante and Heather's dark world.